Techno-horror explained

Techno-horror is a subgenre of horror fiction that focuses on concerns with and fears of technology. The stories are often cautionary tales created during periods of rapid technological advancement that express concerns about privacy, freedom, individuality and wealth disparity. They often take place in dystopian settings.

Criteria

Techno-horror focuses on how technology is either a direct force of evil, indirectly causes bad things to happen, or how it can be manipulated by people in positions of power to do evil things. It relies on elements of science fiction or fantasy, which set it apart from the techno-thriller genre.^[1]

Examples

The overthrow or destruction of the human race by AI is a classic example. Others include radiation-based terror where toxic waste from technology or radio-waves create mutants and monsters out of humans. The 1968 film Night of the Living Dead has radiation from a stray nuclear experiment raising the dead.

Other stories, originating mostly in Japanese horror, involves classical terrors such as ghosts, spirits or curses propagating, traveling, or communicating via hi-tech media such as computer networks, cell phones, and cameras. Here, technology is not a threat on its own, but a conduit for dark forces. ^[2] The subgenre is notably most popular in the Western world and Japan^[3] and was likely influenced by stories of EVPs.

Films

• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
• Forbidden Planet (1956)
• Midnight Lace (1960)
• Night of the Living Dead (1968)
• (1970)
• The Stepford Wives (1975)
• Scanners (1981)
• Poltergeist (1982)
• Videodrome (1983)
• The Terminator (1984)
• Deadly Friend (1986)
• Chopping Mall (1986)
• The Fly (1986)
• Robocop (1987)
• (1989)
• The Lawnmower Man (1992)
• Ringu (1998)
• Existenz (1999)
• The Matrix (1999)
• Pulse (2001)
• The Ring (2002)
• Shutter (2004)
• White Noise (2005)
• Prometheus (2012)
• Elysium (2013)
• Ex Machina (2014)
• Unfriended (2015)
• Kill Command (2016)
• Host (2020)
• M3GAN (2022)
• AfrAId (2024)

Sources:^{[3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]}

Video games

• System Shock (1994)
• I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1995)
• Fallout (1997)
• Fatal Frame (2001)
• (2010)
• Five Nights at Freddy's (2014)
• DreadOut (2014)
• SOMA (2015)
• Observer (2017)
• Little Nightmares II (2021)

Novels and literature

• Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
• I, Robot (1950)
• Second Variety (1953)
• I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream (1967)
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
• Christine (1983)
• Ghost in the Shell (1989)
• The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect (2002)
• Cell (2006)
• Under the Dome (2009)

See also

• Science fiction horror
• List of techno-thriller novels
• Technophobia
• Isekai
• Tech noir
• Postmodern horror
• Art horror
• The Cold War

Further reading

• Book: Clarke, Julie . 2009 . The Paradox of the Posthuman: Science Fiction/Techno-Horror Films and Visual Media . VDM Verlag . 978-3639143799 .

Notes and References

1. https://www.polygon.com/22749747/worst-horror-movie-trope-fear-technology 'Everything new will kill you' is the worst trope in horror - Polygon
2. Sonny Bunch, "Techno-Horror in Hollywood. Japanese Anxieties, American Style", The New Atlantis, Number 14, Fall 2006, pp. 137-140.
3. [Tony Magistrale]
4. https://collider.com/best-techno-horror-movies-genre-history-explained/ From Cryptic Calls to Cursed Computers, The Evolution of Techno-Horror in 10 Movies|Collider
5. https://www.cnet.com/culture/the-9-best-techno-horror-movies-youve-probably-never-heard-of/ The 9 Best Techno-Horror Movies You've Probably Never Heard Of - CNET
6. https://screenrant.com/scariest-techno-horror-movies/ 10 Scariest Techno-Horror Movies|Screen Rant
7. https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/techno-horror-of-the-future/ Techno-Horror of the Future - Mystery and Suspense
8. https://screenrant.com/scariest-tech-phone-based-horror-movies/ Countdown: 10 Scariest Tech Horror Movies, Ranked | ScreenRant
9. https://filmschoolrejects.com/best-technophobic-horror-movies/10 Nightmare-Inducing Horror Movies for Technophobes - Film School Rejects
10. https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/17698/1/top-ten-techno-horror-films Top ten techno horror films | Dazed